Friday, October 30, 2015

GO GREEN!

Go green doesn't mean go Spartans, Michigan State University. In this instance we are taking about our our Carbon Footprint.

There are several options that Michigan companies can adopt to go GREEN and help to reduce our carbon footprint on the earth. These include:

Go 100% Virtual Office Space for all Knowledge Workers

Require Knowledge Workers to Work From Home at Least 2 -3 Days a Week

Go to a 4 X 10 Work Week (appropriate for factories)

If Michigan companies with knowledge workers, were to require those knowledge
workers to work from home even 2 days per week, by using virtual meeting places
and teleconferencing, it would have a
major impact for the companies, the employees, the state and our carbon
footprints.

Knowledge Worker: Requires a computer and phone to do their jobs.

Consider the
following facts:

Michigan Civilian labor force 2014:4,729,900 (5)

Per U.S. Census Bureau, 2011 4.3% of the work force already does
work from home.(6)

Knowledge workers are generally considered to be 28% to 45%
of the work force. (7)

45% - 4.3% = 40.7% and let us round it down to 40% for ease
of numbers.

That means there are 1,891,960 workers that are eligible to
work from home at least 2 days a week.

At 2 days a week, 7,416,483,200 miles that would NOT be
driven on our Michigan roads in a year.

The State of Michigan and counties would benefit long term for maintenance of the roads because

the above equates to 7,416,483,200 miles that would NOT be
driven on our Michigan roads in a year,

That much less wear and tear on the roads that must be
maintained through public funds.

Benefit to Employees and Companies

Since the actual cost for the daily commute is approx.. $20.
(9)

Companies that employ the 100% virtual, will instantly give their knowledge workers the equivalent of $4,900/year raise.

Companies that employ the WFH 2 days a week, will instantly give their
knowledge workers the equivalent of $1960/year raise.

Companies that employ the 4X10 work week will instantly give their employees the equivalent of $980/year raise.

Plus you are giving your employee a better work/life balance.

Benefit to the Company

Companies that go 100% virtual, could do away with a lot of
office space.Commercial office space isn't cheap, but going 100% virtual, would considerable reduce the need for a lot of square footage.If the company can go to a 4X10 work week, there are very large savings for electricity and heating costs. There are more benefits than just these.

Question of Federal and State Tax Breaks

Global warming is fact. We have to reduce our carbon footprint and this is a very simple way to start. The facts stated here are just for the state of Michigan. Imagine if we can get the entire nation on board? If the Federal and State governments offer tax breaks, it would certainly encourage more.

Managing a Virtual Work Force

There are other benefits companies can realize with a virtual workforce. But there is also an art to managing a virtual work force. In my next blog I will discuss the art of managing a virtual work force.

If you need assistance with setting policy and managing a virtual workforce, please feel free to contact me directly.

I had the opportunity to lead some millennials in a development project. Per Wikipedia:

Millennials (also known as the Millennial
Generation or Generation Y) are the demographic cohort following
Generation X. There are no precise dates when the generation starts and
ends; most researchers and commentators use birth years ranging from the
early 1980s to the early 2000s.

So, this kid was a young hotshot (and I shall refer to them as "HotShot" for the remainder). The project was a web-based development project. In reviewing what had been completed, I noted that it was only tested on Microsoft Internet Explorer. Doing my project management risk assessment, we know that any web development for the consumer requires testing on multiple browsers.

The bare minimum is Microsoft Internet Explorer, Opera, Firefox, Safari, Chrome for sites intended for desktops. But the platform has expanded and mobile browsers are now part of that bare minimum. So include Safari for Iphone, Android Browser and Chrome for Android and there are many more.

So I said to the HotShot. "What about testing across other browsers?"HotShot: "I can't load all those browsers on my system."Me: "There are free online web browser testing solutions. Do a search for them."

HotShot proceed to do the search and found a couple of free test sites and proceeded to test the application. Exclaiming, "Oh wow, this is good."

Me: "Will that work?"HotShot: "Yes, thank you so much. How did you know about this?"Me: "I have lots of experience. I have been around. I've done my share of web sites." Pointing to my wrinkles at the same time. HotShot: "You know they have procedures for that now." Meaning my wrinkles.

Aghhhhhhh!!!!!! You gotta love em. HotShot was candid and trying to be helpful. But beware, you may get the same when working with millennials.

Sunday, October 25, 2015

Do you want to be a powerful leader? Then build great relationships. Leadership is all about building great relationships. Those relationships include those who report to you.

I used to frequently hear the saying, "there by the grace of God." What is meant is that any one of us, could be in the "manager" position. It also means leaders must be respectful to everybody, including their reports, because in the next job, that report could be the leader. Leaders must be respectful to reports in front of others as well because if someone you want to hire is watching and sees a leader being negative or behaving poorly, they probably won't want to work for that leader and will recommend against others working for that leader.

"To lead people, walk beside them ... As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence. The next best, the people honor and praise. The next, the people fear; and the next, the people hate ... When the best leader's work is done the people say, 'We did it ourselves!'"— Lao-tzu

I am surprised that in this day and age, in world class organizations, I have seen arrogant managers publicly treat their reports like children. That manager is lowering his own prestige, by down talking his reports through his own arrogance. Even if this is done in jest. It makes the manager look insecure, un-approachable and thus lowers his credibility.

Best advice for leaders and everybody is to follow the golden rule. The golden rule, although most widely known a Christian value, has long been a teaching of many religions and even atheists. Jesus who was a Jew, states it as we know it today in Matthew 7:12. In Muslim religion:

In fact the Quran goes beyond saying the Golden Rule by stating in more
than four places that “Return evil with Kindness.” (13:22, 23:96, 41:34, 28:54,
42:40 -- Dr. Mike Ghouse

Remember we are all dependent upon each other in this world. Either we prosper together or perish together.

Leaders and "leaders to be" must treat your reports like you would want to be treated. You have a responsibility to develop their careers as well. Give your reports the support and opportunity to further grow themselves and their careers.

Build great relationships and be a powerful leader!

What do you think? Please share your thoughts on this.
____________________________________

Need help building your teams leaders? I can help. Contact me trish_sutter@thegoodprojectmanager.com

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

This presentation shows how projects make the corporate mission and vision a reality. The live presentation includes, an exercise to give you the practice of discerning between Mission/Vision, Strategy, Portfolios, Programs and Projects.

thegoodprojectmanager

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About Me

Trish is currently a Program Manager Consultant. Trish’s first passion is her family and friends. Her second passion is Program and Project Management. Having managed budgets up to $25 million with cross-functional teams over 200, 40 or more project managers, and dozens of vendors, all scattered across the globe, "excellence in execution" is a fact. She holds a current Project Management Professional Certification from PMI.ORG. Was certified in LEAN from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME, 2008). Trish has her Bachelors of Science from Oakland University. When not managing projects, she is training her son to manage the family property management business. She is an expert and thought leader in Technical Leadership and Portfolio, Program and Project Management and has blogged, published articles and spoken on the subject. She has been interviewed and quoted in industry magazines and journals and is a content contributor to Rita Mulachy’s Risk Management book.